Aloe Vera - All Natural Remedy for Heartburn

While doing research for a previous blog post I found a product that I had never heard of before and I just had to buy so I wanted to share.

I found a product, Aloe-Papaya Drink by Ultimate living, which claims to aid in digestive health. I bought it for my boyfriend who frequently suffers from heartburn. It didn't cross my mind to purchase this product until I read the nutritional products testimonials on the Ultimate Living web site:

"Thanks for using your expert research to create such wonderful products. Since using your Aloe-Papaya juice, my heartburn is totally gone and my digestive system has improved."

Ultimate Living has combined the Aloe Vera juice and inner gel with organic papaya to formulate Aloe-Papaya drink. Aloe-Papaya delivers much needed energy to the immune system to cleanse, detoxify, heal and repair. All Aloe used for Ultimate Living's Aloe-Papaya juice is organically grown and certified for purity and content by the International Aloe Science Council. Not all Aloe products can make that claim.

After only about a week of using Ultimate Living's Aloe-Papaya drink my boyfriend has experienced a significant decrease in heartburn. I actually haven't heard him complain once, which used to be an almost nightly occurrence.

So, Amen to Aloe-Papaya. Now my boyfriend no longer suffers from heartburn and I no longer have to listen to the complain. :)

Aloe Vera - From Plant to Health Product

I know this blog has been terribly neglected for a while. But I'm back with all kinds of Aloe goodness for you.

I recently found this amazing video online showing how the Aloe Vera plant is processed into Aloe products.

Pure Aloe Vera plant pulp being processed for use in Aloe Vera products

The video shows how Carrington Laboratories, the global leader in Aloe Vera research and manufacturing, processes their Aloe Vera from Costa Rica for use in Aloe products, such as their popular Manpol® powder. The fascinating video starts with the Aloe plant being harvested from the farm and shows the entire process through to the end resulting in manufacturing of finished products such as Aloe beverages and Aloe Vera gel (including their own Acemannan Hydrogel™).

"Carrington is the only company that utilizes a medicinal-grade ethanol and water solution to preserve the polymeric mucilaginous polysaccharides from Aloe in their freshest and most active state. Carrington’s process never utilizes heat, enzymes nor charcoal filtration systems that destroy the plant’s properties. In addition, Carrington’s facilities are vertically-integrated from the nursery of pup plants to the manufacturing of finished products such as functional beverages, gels and creams."

I know this blog has been terribly neglected for a while. But I'm back with all kinds of Aloe goodness for you.

I recently found this amazing video online showing how the Aloe Vera plant is processed into Aloe products.

Pure Aloe Vera plant pulp being processed for use in Aloe Vera products

The video shows how Carrington Laboratories processes their Aloe Vera from Costa Rica for use in Aloe products, such as their popular Manapol powder. The fascinating video starts with the Aloe plant being harvested from the farm and shows the entire process through to the end resulting in manufacturing of finished products such as functional Aloe beverages, Aloe Vera gel and cream.

Carrington is the only company that utilizes a medicinal-grade ethanol and water solution to preserve the polymeric mucilaginous polysaccharides from Aloe in their freshest and most active state. Carrington’s process never utilizes heat, enzymes nor charcoal filtration systems that destroy the plant’s properties. In addition, Carrington’s facilities are vertically-integrated from the nursery of pup plants to the manufacturing of finished products such as functional beverages, gels and creams.

Aloe Vera - The Search is On!

Wow! Now I'm not a big techie or anything. As a matter of fact this blog is my first attempt at anything remotely technical. A friend of mine helped to set up this blog for me to get the word out about my passion for all things Aloe Vera.

While I was surfing around the web checking out some of my favorite Aloe Vera resources I found a site that made it's own search engine for Aloe Vera. Cool. I guess this is some Google thing that people with websites can make their own search engines for whatever they want to search. The cool thing is that it returns all relevant Aloe Vera related results. No spammy, ad-cramped sites. Just the real stuff!

Since I love Aloe, I've added the new Aloe Vera Search Engine to my blog. You can search all things Aloe Vera from the Google search box to the right.

Do it...Check it out...Use it...Love it.

Aloe - Is there anything it CAN'T do?

I had an aloe plant that my mother had given me years ago. I would cut it and use the gel from the leaves directly on burns and cuts. Unfortunately my aloe plant died recently (the pic is of that plant last spring), so I plan to buy a new one. This time I am going to buy a baby aloe plant and nurture it to a healthy adult and I plan to document the progress of my here on this blog. But that's getting ahead of myself.

As you can tell by my blog, I am of course a big fan of all things aloe. I've used the gel from fresh cut leaves and I've used Aloe Vera drinks as a dietary supplement. My sister had suffered from IBS for years before trying an Aloe Vera nutritional supplement to help with her digestive health and seems to have benefited from it.

But recently I found a form and use for Aloe that I had never heard of before.

I was getting a canker sore earlier this week, I could just feel it starting to develop. I thought, "Oh boy, here we go. Two weeks of unbearable mouth pain." I mentioned to a co-worker about feeling a canker sore coming on and she gave me this little gel patch thingy and told me to stick on my sore. She told me it was an Aloe based product. Well, I would try anything at this point to not have to suffer two weeks of pain in mouth (I love to eat spicy foods, canker sores and spicy foods do NOT mix!) so I stuck that little gel pad in my mouth. It was really weird. It kinda slowly dissolved and sticks to wherever you stuck it. It felt pretty weird. The next day, however the sore was almost completely healed. I am telling ya...Aloe Vera does it all, including canker sore treatment!

If you suffer from canker sores, like I do, I definitely recommend this product. It's called OraPatch. It's quite amazing. I wish I had taken before, during and after photos of the process, but I think that'll work better with my new Aloe Vera plant I'm going to buy.

Aloe Vera - The Herb of Wonders

Aloe Vera is the herb of wonders, possessing numerous beneficial uses. It can be used as an all natural ingredient in beauty and cosmetic products or it may be consumed as a nutritional supplement in pill, powder or liquid form.

Aloe Vera is chock full of various beneficial nutrients, including vitamins like B12 and most amino acids, iron, manganese, calcium, Zinc mineral, enzymes etc. There are many Aloe Vera products available like Aloe Vera drinks, moisturizers, cleansers, wound healing creams etc. Today’s Aloe Vera is also widely used in beauty products.

According to some reports Aloe Vera is found to have many medicinal as well as cosmetic properties. Aloe Vera liquid ingested as a drink may be used to provide relief for patients suffering from digestive problems, arthritis, diabetes and high cholesterol because of the dietary supplement properties. It has also reportedly used to boost the immune system. Many doctors say Aloe Vera is not a medicine, however it is found to have certain curing properties. Aloe Vera is also found effective in treating wrinkles, stretch marks and pigmentations. The medicinal properties of Aloe Vera are still on debate, but the beauty and cosmetic properties have been highly accepted all over the world for centuries.

However, in recent years clinical research studies have produced sufficient evidence to support Aloe Vera health claims. These clinical studies have concluded that Aloe Vera may be used as a: laxative, immune system stimulant, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory. Many scientific studies now support the usefulness of Aloe Vera both as an internal nutritional dietary supplement and an external topical healing aid.

Now after all that "official" speak…I’m off to enjoy a glass of my favorite Aloe Vera juice!

Aloe, Immunity and Health Care

Health problems today are becoming chronic, complex, and resistant. Our immune system is burdening by increasing toxins, stress, aging, sedentary life, financial worries …

No penicillin quick cure Immune drug can be found in today’s drug store. Half of Texas medical internist report extreme frustration with a practice limited to symptom therapy not cures. Half our population seeks alternative health answers. “Our health care system is broken.”

And yet, answers for our health are growing literally right under our feet. Consider aloe Vera plants acknowledged for health benefits across the globe… and through the ages.

What are the benefits (documented) to when we take aloe into our body?

Modern laboratory technology finds hundreds of nutrients in Aloe Vera and a remarkably high level of mannan saccharides. What are the benefits to our health when we take mannans into our body? What is special for our health is that functional mannan/mannose molecules (MMM) are found throughout the major signal pathways of our innate immunity.

Literally all organs in our body are protected by mannan glycoprotein (GP) which distinguish patterns of Self versus Non Self. GP mechanisms [signal-ligands-receptors] identify nearly all dangerous micro organisms by their membrane signatures – mannan-molecular badges of identity worn by bacteria, virus, toxins, tumors, disease tissue and more.

Functional mannans are traced through our immune Domains of Recognition, of Binding, and of Activation- and through our body’s innate strategies of inflammation, pluripotential macrophages and acute phase reactants, and detoxification mechanisms. Our genetic scripts map for total (MMM) absorption’s and renal conservation,specific enzymes for transport and chaperone functions and sophisticated biosynthesis [glyco conjugations within cell organelles] building “smart” glycoproteins (GP) signal structures.

And now we are discovering the molecular language of the first wave immune defenses-especially the Lectins carbohydrate super family---with intense research exploring the serum Mannan Binding Protein. And remarkably, we are discovering a core code of the amino acid sequence required by mannose sensitive proteins.

Therefore, the window of opportunity opens as Aloe Immune science now translates into practical, easy to use, safe nutrient products. Research now describes clinical conditions of allergy, asthma, arthritis, auto- immune suggesting an A-Z possibility of health care products.

*Reference: Science papers by Dr Siegel presented to the Annual International Environmental Conference, 1998. Suggested focus papers from research groups including Drs LR Tizard, I. Danhof, R. McDaniel, S. Gordon, A. Ezekowitz

Further Reading: Acemannan by Carrington Labs